Box Score Written by: John Gaudes
WINNIPEG - In an 85-minute heavyweight series opener, the Mount Royal Cougars men's hockey team got a win in their first ever postseason game - beating the Manitoba Bisons 3-2 in double overtime on Friday, February 21 at the Wayne Fleming Arena (U of M campus)
With the win, Mount Royal goes up 1-0 in the best-of-three quarterfinals series. The second game becomes a must-win for Manitoba to keep their season alive; that goes tomorrow night at Wayne Fleming Arena at 7 p.m. CST.
Brenden Turnbull scored the game-winner at the 4:09 mark of double overtime, putting a long wrist shot in glove-side to seal it. Mount Royal also got goals from Cody Cartier and Tyler Fiddler.
Their real hero, though, was goalie Dalyn Flette - who won an incredible duel of the goaltenders with 46 saves. Starting Bisons goalie Joe Caliguiri made remarkable saves as part of his 52 total, but was ultimately beat at the end of the marathon game.
Jordan DePape and Brendan Rowinski were the goal scorers for Manitoba.
"We knew they're a physical, hard-working team but it's a playoff game, there were a lot of hits on both sides and both teams worked hard," said Bisons head coach
Mike Sirant. "We turned over too many pucks and that didn't help us."
"You can't get discouraged, though. We've got to find a way to score and find a way to win a hockey game."
As was the case through most of the regular season, fresh legs meant a quick start for the speedy Bisons. In the first two minutes, the top Manitoba line flew around the ice, earning two hard chances on Flette. The Cougars, though, got some momentum going on their side after two penalty kills in the first ten minutes. Continuing that into the second, the Cougars opened the scoring on the power play at the 7:14 mark, as Matthew Brown sent a cross-ice pass to a wide open Cartier, who buried it to put Mount Royal up 1-0.
Two minutes later on even strength, the story got worse for Manitoba. Flying into the Bisons zone, Fiddler came up the left side and put a shot through Caliguiri's five-hole to make it 2-0. Answering in the closing moments of the second, though, was Manitoba's top rookie scorer. After the Bisons won a battle along the boards, DePape received a pass in the slot and put it under Flett's glove to make it 2-1 after 40.
Mount Royal again dominated even strength play in the final frame, but took an untimely interference penalty at the 17:24 mark. Manitoba capitalized, pulling Caliguiri for a 6-on-4 rush where Rowinski was able to come right down the middle and shelf the tying goal at 18:54, forcing overtime.
The teams sped up the tempo to go back and forth in the first overtime period, but it was Mount Royal who dominated zone time to start the second - eventually resulting in the Turnbull goal.
